On 19th May 1536, Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I, was executed within the confines of the Tower of London.
According to contemporary sources, Anne was laid to rest in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, one of the chapels royal at the Tower, but legends place her hundreds of miles away, in Norfolk or Suffolk… and some even claim her heart was buried elsewhere.
In my latest video for the Anne Boleyn Files YouTube channel, I explore the evidence and the myths about Anne Boleyn’s resting place.
I explore:
- What eyewitness accounts of 1536 say about her burial
- The Norfolk and Essex legends about her body being moved to churches there
- The tale of heart burial at a Suffolk church
- The 1876 Victorian exhumations of the remains in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula
- Why some historians argue that her memorial tile marks the wrong grave
Is Anne Boleyn truly buried beneath her memorial tile in the Tower of London?